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Monday, February 9, 2009

From artist Jon Sibal comes a fantastic concept based off the BMW M1 Homage Concept Car that was revealed back in 2008. With styling cues that can kill the unprepared as well as the interesting use of such a huge wing, I do believe Sibal makes the original Homage car look COMPLETELY boring with this new rendition. Below is his detailed story of how he went about designing the BMW M1 PROCAR Concept.

Jon Sibal Explains

“As a BMW fanatic, I was excited when BMW Group Design unveiled the design study M1 Hommage Concept Car at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2008 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the legendary M1 by Giugiaro. My first thoughts were “Oh cool, what about the ProCar?”

“Seeing an original M1 dressed in a ProCar body kit in person, I knew a race version of the new M1 could be a very interesting idea. Needless to say, BMW is due for a supercar of their own to compete with the likes of Audi’s R8, Mercedes Benz’s SLR 722, Porsche CGT, Lexus LF-A etc.”

“So I got working on a full rendering on how an M1 Hommage ProCar might look like if it were ever produced.”

The Design Process - Rebirth of an Icon

“I began the process by studying the different angles of the M1 Concept Car to get a feel for the lines, shapes and curvature of the body. And with any BMW concept car, the design and contours are all new which required a ProCar body kit that suits these lines properly. The “flamed surface” is very evident so to properly convert this M1 to the ProCar, all of these design elements needed to be considered. I sketched out a new wide body kit design making sure that it stays true to the BMW design language by continuing the new lines of the concept car. The front fascia was also modified and given the updated ProCar look. So with Photoshop CS, the new design was applied and rendered. The BMW M1 ProCar is basically a raced-out version of the original street M1 so the addition of the race rear wing was important to complete the conversion along with new super deep dish wheels.”

“Regardless of the accuracy of my speculation to the actual BMW Group Design Team’s design, it will just be awesome to see the M1 ProCar tearing up it up in the ‘ring.”

Fuel to the fire“The day right before I finished the M1 ProCar rendering, BMW announced the BMW M1 Procar revival at Hockenheim.”